What I’ve Done at Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) 2019

The show is still going on — I’m taking a short break before my final panel (and the final panel of the show), “History Though Comic Eyes” — but I wanted to take a few minutes to capture TCAF memories so far.

First, the workshop went well! I’d been wanting to do a session on how to get publicity for newer comic professionals for a while (based a good amount on my PR: What Not to Do category). I was astonished that the conference room was full (over 20 people), and they listened and asked lots of good questions and we went more than an hour. It was exciting! I want to cover the subject of getting press for comics at more places, and maybe make an ebook.

The Science Comics panel also went well! Good discussion, balanced contributions, varied viewpoints. From left to right: Maki Naro (who is working on a book collection of his many science comic essays), Mike Holmes (illustrator of the Secret Coders series), Alison Wilgus (Flying Machines and Chronin, which I can’t wait to read), and Margreet de Heer (the upcoming Love: A Discovery in Comics).

I got to hear Lucy Knisley talk about her work and what inspired her various books (all of which I love and including the newest, Kid Gloves, about her pregnancy):

Raina Telgemeier gave the keynote for Friday’s professional day, which I will be writing more about later:

Oh, yeah, I met Junji Ito, who had rock-star-size lines around the block for his signings. This was at an opening reception, where things weren’t quite so hectic.

My friend Erica Friedman was also there, celebrating 100 years of yuri manga, which also had an exhibit at the show.

For more day-to-day thoughts, I am participating in Heidi’s podcast featuring however many women in a hotel room.

Finally, here is the traditional “what I got at the show” laid out on the bed picture:

Followed by my souvenir of the trip. I was not previously familiar with Sanrio’s Gudetama, the lazy egg, but he is just adorable. And inspiring! Ito-san talked about how important it was to get enough sleep so manga-ka don’t die at age 60.